Etymology

From ham (“region back of the knee joint”) +‎ stringCategory:English compound terms#HAMSTRING.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈhæmstɹɪŋ/Category:English 2-syllable words#HAMSTRINGCategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#HAMSTRING

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

  Category:English terms with audio pronunciation#HAMSTRING
• Rhymes: -æmstɹɪŋCategory:Rhymes:English/æmstɹɪŋ#HAMSTRINGCategory:Rhymes:English/æmstɹɪŋ/2 syllables#HAMSTRING

Noun

hamstring (plural hamstrings)Category:English lemmas#HAMSTRINGCategory:English nouns#HAMSTRINGCategory:English countable nouns#HAMSTRINGCategory:English entries with incorrect language header#HAMSTRINGCategory:Pages with entries#HAMSTRINGCategory:Pages with 2 entries#HAMSTRING

1. (anatomyCategory:en:Anatomy#HAMSTRING) One of the great tendons situated in each side of the ham, or space back of the knee, and connected with the muscles of the back of the thigh.
2. (informalCategory:English informal terms#HAMSTRING) The biceps femoris, semimembranosus, and semitendinosus muscles.

   Synonyms: hams, hammy, hammie

   • 2010, Adam Garett, “Fried Hams”, in Reps!, 17:23:

     Developing muscle around both sides of a joint (think biceps and triceps, abs and low back, quads and hamstrings) should be one of your primary training considerations because strength on each side leads to lower injury rates.

     Category:English terms with quotations#HAMSTRING

     Category:Quotation templates to be cleaned

Verb

hamstring (third-person singular simple present hamstrings, present participle hamstringing, simple past and past participle hamstrung or hamstringed)Category:English lemmas#HAMSTRINGCategory:English verbs#HAMSTRINGCategory:English entries with incorrect language header#HAMSTRINGCategory:Pages with entries#HAMSTRINGCategory:Pages with 2 entries#HAMSTRING

1. (transitiveCategory:English transitive verbs#HAMSTRING) To lame or disable by cutting the tendons of the ham or knee; to hough.

   Synonyms: hock, hough, hox

2. (transitiveCategory:English transitive verbs#HAMSTRING, figurative) To cripple; to incapacitate; to disable. [from 1640s]

   Synonyms: cripple, incapacitate, disable

   • 1641 May, John Milton, Of Reformation Touching Church-Discipline in England: And the Causes that hitherto have Hindred it. […], [London]: […] Thomas Vnderhill, →OCLC:

     So have they hamstrung the valor of the subject by seeking to effeminate us all at home.

     Category:English terms with quotations#HAMSTRING

   • 2017 July 17, Martin Lukacs, “Neoliberalism has conned us into fighting climate change as individuals”, in The Guardian‎:

     Its trademark policies of privatization, deregulation, tax cuts and free trade deals: these have liberated corporations to accumulate enormous profits and treat the atmosphere like a sewage dump, and hamstrung our ability, through the instrument of the state, to plan for our collective welfare.

     Category:English terms with quotations#HAMSTRING

Anagrams

• Stringham

Etymology

hamstra +‎ -ingCategory:Swedish terms suffixed with -ing (verbal noun)#HAMSTRING

Noun

hamstring cCategory:Swedish lemmas#HAMSTRINGCategory:Swedish nouns#HAMSTRINGCategory:Swedish entries with incorrect language header#HAMSTRINGCategory:Swedish common-gender nouns#HAMSTRINGCategory:Pages with entries#HAMSTRINGCategory:Pages with 2 entries#HAMSTRING

1. hoarding, the act of gathering or hoarding consumables in anticipation of a shortage (like a hamster hides food in its cheeks)

References

• “hamstring”, in Svenska Akademiens ordlista [Wordlist of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)